Too Late
by Kitty-Key-chan
Summary: Too late... Alfred was too late. But it couldn't be his fault...could it? How could this have happened... He didn't want it to, but the nightmare of a memory forced it's was back into Alfred's mind.


Fandom: Hetalia

Characters: America/Alfred, Canada/Matthew, France/Francis(mentioned)

Ships: none

Warnings: Mention of the paris attacks, blood.

Word count: 997

Inspiration: pic above (found on facebook)

Author: Kitty-key-chan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Begin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Too late... Alfred was too late. But it couldn't be his fault...could it? How could this have happened... He didn't want it to, but the nightmare of a memory forced it's was back into Alfred's mind.

He was lounging on the couch in a laying position that Arthur would lose his mind at Alfred for while watching cartoons just enjoying some down time before he got ready for bed. That was until his tv changed to the news suddenly bringing up a special report feed about how there was an attack in Paris, several in fact, bombs and shootings.

Upon hearing this Alfred shot up watching with wide and horrified eyes and ears to the information and in less than a heart beat after the feed ended and sent him back to his 'regularly scheduled programming' he had his boss on his phone.

"WHOA! Dude did you see what's going on in France?!"

"Yes Alfred bu-"

"We gotta help! I'll take some of our army and charge in at the front like the hero I am! Then all of France will love me and stuff!" America laughed and grinned at his full proof plan.

His boss only sighed, "Alfred, no. I know as America you feel a need to rush in and 'be a hero' but I'm afraid that'll have to wait until we get a bit more information. If we run in guns a blazing we could cause more chaos than good. I'll keep you posted if anything happens that we need you to take care of. Other wise just wait, understand?"

America sighed, "Yes sir." and so he did. He waited for hours wishing that ANYTHING would happen that would allow him to go do something and finally something did. Something that made his heart stop.

He picked up the phone in a rush of excitement but nearly dropped it when his boss' grave voice entered his ear, "America, it's your brother, Canada. He disappeared," Normally it would take Alfred a few times to remember who Canada but the word 'disappeared' involving him struck a chord that made him instantly remember and panic as his boss carried on, "No one knows exactly where he went but we're all but certain he went to Paris to help his father. We need you to get him out of harms way, we can't help France himself yet but we need to stop Canada from getting hurt. We don't know what might happen to his country if he gets seriously injured. There's a helicopter on the roof ready to take you-"

America didn't wait to hear if there was more he needed to hear, his little brother was in danger and he couldn't let him get hurt. He didn't even bother to grab his usual jacket as he sprinted outside and jumped onto the copter that began to rise as soon as he got on. "Oh god Mattie... Oh my freaking god..." was all he could mutter to himself, he actually felt as if he was about to be sick from anxiety.

The helicopter dropped him off right in Paris, he wasn't going to question how his boss managed to allow that to happen as he jumped out of the copter and ran into the streets of the city looking for his bother.

He had only been running for a few minuets down the streets void of people and cars who weren't part of Emergency services when suddenly it began to grow darker, Alfred turned with wide eyes and watched as the lights of the Eiffel Tower flicked off section by section.

The situation began to grow more and more dire and America grew more and more panicked in his search, he kept running until suddenly he saw a crater a surprising distance from one of the wrecked buildings surrounded by rubble. For some reason the sight made his blood run cold and his chest tighten harshly. He ran towards it on instinct and to his horror in the hole lay his the battered, bruised, broken, bloodied, blonde body of his brother blatantly in the bare bottom.

"MATTHEW!" Alfred screamed in unadulterated terror as he quickly made it to the mangled figure.

When he arrived Al fell to his knees, hands hovering over the slightly smaller male, scared that if he touched Matthew he would shatter into pieces like ice. As he kneeled there panting and shaking Canada's bleary and cloudy orbs opened looking almost white instead of their usual purple hue.

"Am...America..." the weak country smiled softly up at his brother who finally reached the rest of the way down to pull the now powerless Nation close to him, tears begin to well up occasionally drip down his face. Canada gave a slight cough and a drizzle more of blood rolled out of his mouth before he stuttered on, "f-f-finally... you remember me... someone... finally remembers me..." Canada's eyes begin to flutter shut again and the timid smile fell to a grimace as his head lolled.

He didn't know what to do, he was supposed to be the hero, America didn't know what to do, he was scared, Alfred didn't know how to react, he couldn't even save his baby brother, "MATTHEW!" Alfred screeched again and again the tears cascading down his face uncontrollably as some of the French police found their way to the noise, they shouted a few words in french that America couldn't understand but one of them sounded too much like the word 'corpse' and it sent him into a new wave of hysteria, "HE'S NOT DEAD!" he howled and sobbed, "HE'S NOT! HE CAN'T BE!"

America carried on wailing until only a trickle of tears fell, his voice was hoarse and weak as he spoke defeatedly, "I'm... sorry Canada... I couldn't be a hero... I've always tried to be the hero... but I always failed for you... I hurt you more than all I've helped combined... I'm a villain, I'm sorry..."


End file.
